'Ride for freedom': Gaza para-cyclists leading global rally for Palestine

Amputees from Gaza – who have seen the worst of Israeli barbarity in the besieged enclave over the years – will lead thousands of cyclists across the world over many days in a mammoth show of solidarity with Palestinians brutalised by the Jewish state for over 100 days.

Starting Saturday and running into February, the event titled the 'Great Ride' will see people cycle in solidarity in different cities in the UK, US, Spain and Belgium.

The event has been inspired by the Palestinian para-cycling team, Gaza Sunbirds, which is made up of Palestinian amputees. Several organisations, including Big Ride for Palestine, AMOS Trust, and Native Women Ride, will support the group.

The ongoing Israeli onslaught on Gaza has killed more than 24,000 people – most of them women and children – and turned the blockaded enclave into a dystopian landscape filled with concrete rubble and twisted metal.

In 2018, the Gaza Sunbirds were founded after an Israeli sniper shot athlete and cyclist Alaa al Dali in the leg during the Great March of Return, a protest rally marking the 70th year of the Nakba. On the first day of the march, Israeli forces fired indiscriminately on peaceful protesters and killed 17 Palestinians.

Al Dali's injuries led to the amputation of his leg and later inspired him to found the group - Gaza Sunbirds. The group now includes some 20 Palestinian para-athletes who have experienced similar life-altering injuries amid the ongoing military Israeli occupation.

Before Israel's war on Gaza, the group had been training hard in a bid to secure a "wildcard place at the Paris 2024 Paralympics," according to a statement from the group.

"We're getting on our bikes to keep carrying our voice forward. The sunbirds will never be able to compete if we don't survive this genocide!" - Karim Ali, Co-founder and one of the estimated seven million from the Palestinian diaspora living in the United Kingdom who spent his early years in Jordan before moving to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In October, shortly after Israel's onslaught on Gaza began, he shared his family's journey with TRT World, recounting how it was shaped by the dispossession due to the Nakba. In 1948, Zionist militias forcibly displaced around 750,000 Palestinians to create the State of Israel.

Ali said the purpose behind the group was to help the athletes overcome their challenges "through determination and excellence in sport" and to "proudly raise the Palestinian flag on the world stage".

According to Ali, the athletes have "lost everything" to the occupation, describing the deeply challenging conditions such as living in refugee camps and abject poverty.

Shortly into the war, as Israel pummelled Gaza with air strikes, the group supported humanitarian efforts on the ground in the besieged enclave. They distributed much-needed provisions, including food aid and supplies like duvets, nappies and sanitary products, to thousands of people.

As the group puts in the final touches ahead of Saturday, they say, "The Great Ride of Return is inspired by Big Ride for Palestine, who have been organising Palestinian solidarity rides nationwide since 2015."

The event is one of over 60 options to sign up to Gaza Sunbirds' Athletes for Palestine, describing it as "a campaign aiming to unite the world through sport."

They say that the 6th January global ride saw 61 groups participate from places including El Salvador to Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, London, Manchester, Singapore, Cape Town, and Los Angeles.

They describe the powerful international moment of solidarity as being "collaboratively inspired, supported and regulated by the Sunbirds and US-based indigenous cycling collective, Native Women Ride."

As some make last-minute efforts to sign up, the organisers hope for a much larger global turnout.

The Gaza Sunbirds' captain, Alaa al Dali, has made a rally calling for the world to "join us on our journey to send a powerful message to the world to stop the siege of Gaza. We ride for freedom."